Rocky Mountain Vacation

It was a beautiful summer day in the Colorado Rockies, the sky was a brilliant blue, the river was dancing over the rocks and the wild flowers were showing off their varied colors, there was not even a hint of what was to come.

My family had met for a vacation to celebrate my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary. Since we all live scattered throughout the United States we decided to pick a middle ground and meet in Colorado. We had 5 wonderful days in Frisco, Colorado a quaint little town nestled in the valley surrounded by snow capped mountains. Near the end of our vacation we all decided to take a 15 mile bike ride down the mountain, beginning in Vail and riding through Copper Mountain and on down into Frisco. My parents are in their 70’s but we felt that it would be an easy ride for them since it was all downhill.

The view was magnificent! I was singing and praising God, it was so amazing to view His handiwork.

But just about a mile from Copper Mountain, I heard someone say to me, “That’s your mom!” I looked off to the shoulder and saw my mom lying in the grass. I couldn’t believe it was her. I thought, “Oh no, no, no this can’t be Mom, she can’t be hurt like this. She’s got to be okay!” I threw my bike down and kneeled down next to her. She was lying on her side and I could see her face. She was mumbling that she didn’t know what happened. My heart was crying out – this can’t be happening. . . How could we have let this occur? We should’ve done things differently – I should’ve stayed with her the whole time, we shouldn’t have let them ride – they should’ve just met us in Copper. Over and over my thoughts raced as I held up my jacket to keep the sun out of her face and waited for help to come . . .

Questions continued to tumble around in my head . . . God,why did You allow this to happen? Why on their 50th anniversary celebration? If You love us so much, why did you let this happen to one of Your dear children? Why?. . . Why? . . . Why? . . .

I’m not sure I’ll ever know the answers to those questions. . .

But really is that the point – to have all the answers? If God had wanted me to know He would have told me. What He desires is TRUST. Trust when we don’t understand. Trust when it’s hard. Trust when we can’t see our way.

We TRUST Him because he is a God who is TRUSTWORTHY. He made the ultimate sacrifice for us by sending His only Son to take our place and die so that we might have life! How can we doubt that kind of love? How can we question His Grace in the face of such demonstrative love?!

Even in the midst of this tragedy we have seen God’s mighty hand at work - protecting, loving and watching over us in so many ways.

And I can truly say, just as David said in Psalm 28:6-7, “Praise the LORD! for he has heard my cry for mercy. The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.”

We have much to be thankful for – Praise His Holy name!